IPOs, A Little Defense, & China's All Star Team...

Initial Public Offerings (IPO)
Guess what's back in vogue, the wild rush of buying an IPO.  This is usually reserved to investors who are highly coveted, so usually not you and me.  However, a little unknown tip is that you can call your brokerage firm and ask if there is a process for you to sign-up or participate in IPOs.  You might be surprised that some of your favorite companies and their products have recently gone public. Check out these IPOs:


Zillow (Nasdaq: Z) - real estate website
Dunkin' Brands (Nasdaq: DNKN) - donut and coffee shop
Teavana (NYSE: TEA) - maker of specialty tea
Francesca's Holdings (Nasdaq: FRAN) - women's fashion
Skullcandy (Nasdaq: SKUL) - headphone maker of stylish headphones geared towards a young crowd

Defense from an Unpredictable Market
I am still defensive as my research in the last quarter has led me primarily to health care, basic material (i.e., metals, mining,etc), and technology stocks.  I continue to read about activities in the health care sector such as promising progress on HIV/AIDS.  Gilead Sciences recently ran studies where drugs taken daily can stop an uninfected person from contracting HIV.  There has also been some advances in cancer research.  I really like the small and mid sized companies in this sector as acquisitions and partnerships are on the rise as large health care stocks need to grow their business.  I like the move in metal stocks (i.e., gold, silver) and miners because the DEBT BURDENS in Europe and the United States are forcing governments to implement austerity measures which will deflate their economies.  Legendary investors like George Soros have typically increased their positions in Gold to hedge or protect against deflation.

China's All Star Team
Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) -This is known as the Chinese version of Google.  As if that wasn't enough, they are buying stakes in travel sites (Qunar) and recently inked a deal with major record labels to offer a streaming music for a fee.
Sina Weibo (Nasdaq: SINA) - This is know as the Chinese version of Twitter. They are aiming high and hope to offer services similar to Facebook in China.
Renren (NYSE:RENN) - This is known as the Chinese version of Facebook.
China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) - This company is looking to link up with Apple to market I-Phones in China.

Many of these firms have already taken off but keep an eye of these all-stars because your portfolio will outperform if they can dominate their industries like their American counterparts.  I'll conclude with how I'm playing the markets.  I'm still holding my current positions and loving the fact that a few of them are paying dividends which is like a free quarterly check that can be reinvested into the same stock or kept for later.  I also believe that metals, miner, dividend, health care, and technology are my favorite places to be right now.